Brainiac Storyline of Bryan Singer’s Superman: The Man of Steel

Over the last few weeks we’ve seen images of what could have been very different and arguably far-fetched Superman films of the past. From concept art of Tim Burton’s disco-suited Supermanto unused designs of Doomsday for Bryan Singer’s take on Superman, it simply never came to be.

For those who enjoyed Superman Returns, we have loads of details on what would have been its sequel had Bryan Singer been given the chance to make Superman: The Man of Steel. Based on the events of Returns, it actually sounds pretty cool. Oh, and it includes Brainiac!

IESB put up the report a few days ago which goes into detail on scenes from Superman Returns that were never released and more interestingly, Bryan Singer’s plans for its sequel. There were several different basic outlines for how the sequel could have played out but the storyline that would’ve likely been turned into a full screenplay included the following plot points which I’ve summarized into point form below:

Singer’s The Man of Steel takes place several years after Superman Returns where people are used to having Supes back.

New Krypton, Lex Luthor’s growing island that Superman tossed into space has grown into a speherical moon that the people of Earth can see.

The new moon attracts attention of alien visitors however, and a big alien ship arrives.

Superman flies up to check it out. It carries another Kryptonian survivor. Party time.

Clark takes his newfound friend on a tour of Earth but this other Kryptonian is puzzled as to why Superman hasn’t used his powers to fix the world of its problems (hunger, war, etc.). I kind of like this guy.

Superman explains the rule of not interfering with development of Earth.

The visitor disagrees and aims to use his powers to “fix” the world with his first mission being to intervene in a feud between two third world countries. War breaks out but the Kryptonian takes things into his own hands and ends it quickly by annihilating their armies.

For his second opening act, the new alien visitor lays down rules for the entire world, saying that there will be no more wars or he will deal with the aggressor country.

The big modern societies of the world are in favor of this, applauding the new “hero” who is now willing to share advanced tech and use his powers to end the world’s other problems. Those who disagree feel the wrath.

As a result, Earth’s familiar Kryptonian, Superman, has been outcasted since he didn’t do this earlier and kept advanced technology from them.

Suspicious of the other Kryptonian, Supes examines the ship to find it loaded with clones of his new friend.

Using the ship’s computers, he find out this other Kryptonian and clones are actually an artificial intelligence which has grown on its own since Krypton has destroyed. Its/His name: Brainiac.

Over the years since Kryptonian’s explosive end, Brainiac has travelled from world to world, “fixing” them and then destroying them and Earth is his new target. It was Brainiac who actually destroyed Krypton.

Superman tries to let the world’s leaders know and ends up battling Brainiac who can continue to resurrect into other clone bodies in stasis.

Eventually, the Man of Steel takes down the ship but Brainiac transfers his consciousness into Superman’s kid. Remember him?

You can imagine the moral dilemma here. Earth or the Brainiac-infused boy? In the end, young Jason White is killed by his red-caped dad in order to save the world and fans who didn’t like the idea of Superman and Lois having a baby rejoice. Brainiac plus the removal of the kid storyline sounds like a good deal. I wonder how Lois takes that? James Marsden’s Richard White character probably isn’t too sad…